The Issue with Take-Home Mold Tests

8/2/2018 (Permalink)

Is this mold or paint? Most take-home mold tests only check for mold spores, which are always present. Call a mold expert instead!

When possible, most people would rather take care of home-related issues on their own than call for professional help. There are certainly benefits to doing that in some situations, but there some occasions when it’s a waste of time and money. One such situation is when a homeowner tries to test for mold by using a take-home mold testing kit.

Take-Home Mold Tests: A False Positive

In general, the process for a take-home mold test is straightforward. Depending on the kit, you will either collect an air sample or use a strip to collect microorganisms off a surface. These samples are then sent to a lab for testing, which will then send you results based on whether or not they detected mold spores in your sample.

The issue with those kinds of testing is that you will almost definitely get a positive result. The reason is that mold spores are everywhere—indoors and outdoors. These spores are only an issue if they activate and begin to grow; otherwise, you will never know they are there.

Take-home mold testing kits are generally accurate in that they can detect mold spores, but they don’t actually help the homeowner determine if there is any mold growth, which is when actual issues are present. For this reason, it’s a much better investment to call a professional either to test for mold growth (if you’re uncertain you have any) or to remediate the growth (if you know it is present in your home).

The Truth About Mold

There are a lot of companies and individuals out there who spread misinformation about mold to scare up business, but in most cases, the fear is exaggerated. This is why we wrote a blog post to help ease some of the concerns many homeowners have about mold.

If you have (or suspect you have) mold in your property, please call SERVPRO of Alexander & Caldwell Counties at (828) 396-1070 for quick and effective mold remediation!